Read President Ramaphosa's full speech
My Fellow South Africans,
The pandemic has resulted in the sudden loss of income for businesses and individualsalike, deepening poverty and increasing hunger. The urgent and dramatic measures we have taken to delay the spread of the virus have been absolutely necessary. Our foremost priority now is to intensify the health interventions needed to contain and delaythe spread of the disease and to save lives. To date, the coronavirus has taken the lives of at least 58 people in our country.From the more than 126,000 tests conducted, 3,465 confirmed cases of coronavirus havebeen identified.More than 2 million people have been screened in communities across the country and, ofthese, over 15,000 have been referred for testing.
Our economic response can be divided into three phases. The first phase began in mid-March when we declared the coronavirus pandemic as anational disaster. Over the past few days, we have been in consultations with various stakeholders.We have met with business, labour and the community constituency in NEDLAC.cWe have met with Premiers, MECs and Metro Mayors and with the members of thePresidential Economic Advisory Council. Following these meetings, Cabinet considered various proposals and finalised the socialrelief and economic support package that stands at the centre of the second phase of oureconomic response.
Additional funding of R20 billion will therefore be made available to municipalities for theprovision of emergency water supply, increased sanitisation of public transport and facilities,and providing food and shelter for the homeless.Another significant area that requires massive additional expenditure is the relief of hungerand social distress in our communities across the country.
In addition, to fill the immediate need, the Department of Social Development has partneredwith the Solidarity Fund, NGOs and community-based organisations to distribute 250,000 food parcels across the country over the next two weeks. We continue to provide assistance – in the form of loans, grants and debt restructuring – toSMMEs, spaza shop owners and other informal businesses. The value of this assistance to date is over R100 million. An additional amount of R2 billion will be made available to assist SMEs and spaza shopowners and other small businesses.
To assist a greater number of businesses, the previous turnover threshold for tax deferrals isbeing increased to R100 million a year, and the proportion of PAYE payment that can bedeferred will be increased to 35 percent. Businesses with a turnover of more than R100 million a year can apply directly to SARS ona case-by-case basis for deferrals of their tax payments.
Several commercial banks and insurance companies have also assisted the economic reliefeffort by, among other things, delaying or reducing instalment payments, providing debtrelief, and waiving bank fees for grant beneficiaries. The fourth area on which Cabinet has resolved is the phased re-opening of the economy. We will follow a risk-adjusted approach to the return of economic activity, balancing thecontinued need to limit the spread of the coronavirus with the need to get people back towork.
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